One day after protesters shouting "Go home!" blocked three busloads of immigrants from a Border Patrol processing center in Murrieta, a different group of immigrants in El Centro were welcomed by a congressman carrying a Bible.

"What a different scene," said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), who was on hand in El Centro for the arrival of three busloads of immigrants in Imperial County.

The mothers and children, who were caught illegally crossing the border in Texas, were flown to Yuma and bused to a Border Patrol facility in El Centro.

Not only did the El Centro reception differ, so did the response from the congressmen who represent the two areas — which are about 140 miles apart.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), whose district includes Murrieta in Riverside County, told The Times earlier Wednesday that his constituents were "extremely upset" that detainees could be "let loose" in California. He called for immigrants caught in Texas to stay there until they can be deported.

In contrast, Vargas brought his Bible to the El Centro facility where the immigrants are to be housed, and prayed with detainees.

"It’s been an outpouring of love here," he said, adding that he assured the mothers and children that the United States would treat them "fairly and with dignity."

Vargas also had a message for what he called the "angry mob" in Murrieta: "Don't forget your humanity." He said he couldn't understand why the protesters who blocked the buses in Murrieta weren't arrested.

Vargas praised the Border Patrol for its treatment of the immigrants. The surge in immigration has been spurred, in part, by false rumors that children and families will be given permission to stay in the U.S., as well as by violence in immigrants' homelands.

Amid heightened speculation about whether he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination, Vice President Joe Biden remains at least a month from a decision and has largely left preparatory work to a small circle of trusted longtime aides.

Perched in his wheelchair, "Big Jim" Blake confidently rolls the wooden floors of his old shoot-'em-up saloon, founded here in 1893. The history of the Cowboy Bar is populated with drifters, outlaws and outliers, and its present proprietor brims with wild yarns and tall tales.

President Obama will impose even steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants than previously expected, White House officials said early Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the country has ever taken to fight global warming.